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Day 7: Sarajevo
Today has probably been my busiest day so far.
I got up at 9am to make sure I was dressed and ready to head ot just before 10 to meet Neno (of Neno'f free Sarajevo walking tour) at the natioanl theatre for a tour of the city. Originally I thought it was just going to be myself and Neno (as he had emailed me to say some people had cancelled) but we ended up being joined by a Australian and a New Zealand couple (they're everywhere!).
Neno started our tour by giving us a brief account of the history of Bosnia (from Ottoman times, to Asurtia-Hunmgarian rule, Yugoslavia and the recent war). This was a really good introduction into some of the sights and buildings that we were going to see and how they came about. During the tour we saw many Mosques and Churches, illustrating how multicultural the city is. We saw a lot of evidence of the recent Bosnian war, such as bullet holes in practically every building, and "Bosnian Roses" (holes in the roads from ammunition and grenades which are filled in with red tarmac to symbolize the people who died during this time). Walking around the town it is evident that not much has been done to rebuild the city since the war. Aside from seeing evidence of the recent war, we also saw some landmarks from thw rold wars, such as the eternal flame light at the end of World War 2, and the Latin Bridge, where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated (and thus sparking the first World War). After just under 3 hours of walking around the town we came to the end of our tour. We all enthusastically thanked Neno who had been an excellent guide, and gave him a tip for his time. Luckily for me the last stop of the tour was right next to my hostel so i headed back to see if the boys were around.
Since it was still early afternoon, myself, Anthony (Kiwi) and Steve (Aussie) decided to rent some bikes and cycle out to see one of the old war tunnels on the outskirts of the city (when i say outskirts I mean a good 12km from where we were satying). It was fun cycling around, and seeing more of sarajevo than I would have seen if we hadnt rented the bikes. Anthony also had his GoPro with him so we filmed some of our route. To get to the tunnel we followed the main road out of the city for about 10km (stopping off halfway to get a much needed McFlurry) and then cut into a more residential area surrounded by fields. The ride wasn't too difficult and after just under an hour we reached the tunnel. The tunnel was located under a war torn building in a very rural area, not too far away from the airport, and was used as the main way to get supplies in and out of the city during the war. We looked around for a bit (following a Japanese tour group) and then got back on our bikes to head towards the centre again. Getting to the tunnel may have been easy, but cycling back was a lot more challenging (a lot of it was uphill). By the time we got back to the hostel I was very red in the face and in need of a break. We only had a quick water break though as we wanted to head out to the other side of the city to see the Goat Bridge (the main crossing out of the city). Luckily this was only a couple of kilometers away, and on a nice country path, so we were there and back within an hour. So after about 5 hours of cycling around the city we finally headed back to return the bikes and go back to the hostel for the night. After some much needed showers we sat down and watched the final episode of Game of Thrones (it really is a worldwide phenomenon). We didnt last much longer after it finished though and soon headed to bed.
So after a very packed day i have seen many different sides of Sarajevo. Tomorrow its off to Mostar on a day trip. See you then.
Lois x
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